Twenty Øne Møments with Yøu

Chapter 6

"Hey Chloe. Can I come in?" Tyler asked.

I smiled weakly. "Sure."

He came in and sat next to me on the floor at the foot of my bed. "So, Josh is dealing with the guy at the door."

I smiled slightly. "Yeah, I figured. Him and the girls."

Tyler laughed a little. "Yeah, they all care about you that much. If you don't mind me asking, who was it?"

I sighed. "Luke."

Tyler's eyes got wide. "Luke? He's here? How?.."

"I don't know. No idea. I'm literally about to have a mental breakdown."

"We'll make sure you get put in the Ambrose Asylum."

"Haha, very funny. Thanks for trying to cheer me up, really, but this is, like, panic attack hard."

"I know, especially since only, like, eight other people know."

"Yeah, considering he..." I said before I heard a huge crash downstairs.

I sprinted downstairs, Tyler on my heels, and found Josh pinned against the wall by Luke. Robbie and Bryan were trying to get him off, but they weren't succeeding. I audibly gasped. Luke must have heard me, because he looked toward me and backed away from Josh. I ran over to Josh. "Are you ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm ok," he said.

I looked at Luke, terror in my eyes. As I opened my mouth to say something to him, I started having a panic attack. "Hey, remember, count 1, 2, 6, 9, 12," Josh said.

"1, 2, 6, 9, 12," I repeated.

It was a trick my therapist had taught me for when I had these kind of panic attacks. It wasn't uncommon, considering the incident. "Luke, I'm gonna say it since Chloe is obviously not going to: get out of this house, and get out of her life. Thank you, have a shitty day," Liz said as I started tearing up.

"Chloe, please..." Luke said before Nattie spoke up.

"Luke, go away. She has panic attacks actually quite often after what you did to her. Go away, and never come back," she spat.

By this time I was sitting on the bottom step, Josh's arm around me, sobbing, watching this whole thing. "Seriously dude, get out of the house. Please. I hate seeing Chloe like this," Tyler said.

"And you are?" Luke asked.

"I'm her fiancée's best friend," he responded.

"Oh, so you've known her for, what, a couple years? I've known her since middle school."

"And you broke her. Anytime we even meet someone who's named Luke, or she sees someone that looks like you, she has a panic attack. She is the happiest girl I know, until she gets reminded of you. You left her black and blue. That I can't handle, and that's why you're gonna leave and not come back. Now. Because you got in between someone I love and me, and you're gonna feel the heat of my cavalry."

Tyler turned and winked at me after that last line, hoping the Lane Boy reference would cheer me up a little bit. It got a weak smile out of me, and with that reassurance, Tyler pushed Luke out the door, slamming it and locking it so Luke couldn't get back in. Brittany and Liz rushed toward me, Brittany sitting on the other side of me and Liz sitting in front of me. "Hey, I know how hard it is. Just breathe," Brittany said.

I took a deep, shaky breath. "I think I'm gonna go upstairs for a little while."

Everyone nodded, and I got up and went up to my room, closing the door behind me. I sat on the bed, and I just put my head in my hands and cried. I sat and cried, because I didn't know how else to deal with it. It was hard, dealing with it. It's a fresh wound, only four years old. And rape is not something to take lightly.